Quinoa is an ancient grain from the Andean region of South American, including Peru. While my husband and I were in Peru last month we actually didn’t eat any quinoa – our guide for the Choquequirao trek said that most of the quinoa is exported out of the country and what remains is expensive. While at home in Colorado we eat a lot of quinoa, mainly in salads because it’s not so great on its own. This is a quick and easy salad, perfect for those warm nights.

Serves 4-6

time: roughly 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked per package directions

cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/2 orange bell pepper, sliced in bite-size pieces

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced in bite-size pieces

green onion, sliced thinly

cucumber, peeled and sliced in bite-size pieces

kalamata olives, sliced in half

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

black pepper

kosher salt

feta cheese

pine nuts

Directions:

1) Cook the quinoa according to the package instructions – remove from heat and let cool.

2) After washing the vegetables cut them and set aside on the cutting board. Slice the kalamata olives in half.

My husband has really wanted to make tandoori chicken in our Green Egg ever since we got it, so about 2 years. We finally did and it was awesome! Our homemade tandoori chicken isn’t as read as what you get in most restaurants, my husband said that’s because they add red food coloring. I’m ok with our less red tandoori chicken! Raita is a Greek yogurt based sauce that is fantastic to eat with spicy Indian food!

time: overnight + 2 hours

Chicken Ingredients:

small container of plain Greek yogurt

fresh ginger, roughly one inch, peeled and chopped finely

2 tablespoonspaprika

one lime, squeezed

1 teaspoonchili powder

3/4 teaspoonsalt

1/2 teaspoonground turmeric

1/2 teaspoonground cumin

1/8 teaspoonground red pepper

3 clovesgarlic, chopped

mix of chicken pieces, about 2-3 a person

Veggie Ingredients:

broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

onion, sliced thickly

bell pepper, sliced thickly

Chicken Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except for chicken in a food processor and blend until smooth.

2. Place the chicken in a ziplock plastic bag, add the marinade mix the marinade around the chicken and refrigerate overnight.

3. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and leave on the counter for 30 minutes.

4. Get your grill ready. For charcoal arrange the coals on either side of the grate, leaving a space in the middle. Light and let sit for about 1/2 hour until the charcoal turns gray/black. For gas grills, heat one side to medium-high heat and leave one side without any heat.

5. Remove the chicken from the marinade; place the sliced side veggies in the bag with marinade after you remove the chicken.

6. Place the chicken on the unheated part of the grill.

5. Close the grill lid and grill the chicken for about 90 minutes until cooked through; turn the chicken every 20 minutes.

6. Serve the tandoori chicken with the chilled raita, veggies, and rice.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot spoon in half of the peanut oil, dump in the shrimp after the oil has gotten a tad bit warm. Cook the shrimp until they are cooked through, then remove them from the pan.

Add the other tablespoon of oil, the garlic, red chillies and red bell peppers; saute for about 3 minutes (you want the red bell peppers to still be crunchy).

Add the cashews and stir fry for about a minute.

Add the sauce and the shrimp to the vegetables then cook for another minute.

Add the noodles and cook for about 3 minutes – stir until all of the ingredients are well combined.

Scoop out the noodle mixture and place on individual plates, then top with the chopped green onions and cilantro.

I love pizza. I could eat pizza at least once a week. The thing is, pepperoni and cheese just ain’t my thing. Call me a snob, but I like amazing, fresh ingredients on my pizzas. I also like thin crust. I don’t want dough to be the star of the pizza.

We made two different pizzas this night for dinner, and I have NO idea which was my favorite…they were both so dang good!

Ingredients for pizza #1:

crust of your choice (plus cornmeal to dust the top of the pan)

thinly sliced zucchini

thinly sliced Brussels sprouts

thinly sliced tomatoes

thinly sliced mozzarella cheese

thinly slice prosciutto

crumbled feta cheese

sun dried tomatoes

tomato paste with seasonings

Ingredients for pizza #2:

crust of your choice (plus cornmeal to dust the top of the pan)

thinly sliced tomatoes

thinly sliced bell peppers

cooked and drained ground chorizo sausage

thinly sliced mozzarella cheese

tomato paste with seasonings

If you don’t like these ingredients get creative!

to assemble the fancy pizzas:

1. Begin by rolling or tossing the dough into the size of your pan. Then place it on the pan that is lightly dusted with cornmeal.

2. Spread a thin layer of seasoned tomato paste over your dough.

3. Layer your toppings.

4. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the crust is a golden brown.

1. If using ears of corn, peel and add to a boiling salted pot of water (if using frozen corn thaw, if using canned corn drain). Boil for 15 minutes turn on low and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Drain and let the corn cool.

2. On a baking sheet broil the poblano peppers until they are charred on all sides – about 15-20 minutes. Let cool.

3. Boil the rice either on the stove or a rice cooker. Rinse the 1 1/2 cups of rice well, until the water runs clear (we’re talking 5 minutes). Place into your rice cooker or pot and and 1 can of chicken broth (roughly 1 1/2 cups) plus 1/2 cup water (or whatever water to rice ratio your rice calls for). Squeeze one lime into the rice water. Cook.

4. While everything is boiling and broiling place the 1/4 cup of water, the 1/2 bag of spinach, the 1/2 bunch of cilantro, the small pepper and the green onions into a food processor – blend until like a pesto.

5. Once the corn has cooked and cooled slice off of the cob. Place into a bowl. Add the chopped onion, chopped jalapeno, and diced garlic to the bowl.

6. Heat olive oil in a skillet and once heated add the corn, onion, jalapeno, garlic and seasonings. Cook for about 5 minutes.

8. After the onion mixture has cooked add the diced tomatoes and bell peppers, cook for an additional minute. Remove from heat.

9. Slice the poblanos in half, scrapped out the seeds and lay with the insides up on a baking sheet. Scoop the rice mixture on each pepper, then scoop the onion and corn mixture. Sprinkle with the crumbled queso fresco cheese.

10. Broil the assembled peppers for 7-10 minutes until the cheese has browned.

Whipped feta is pretty much amazing. It is just feta cheese and cream cheese. After you whip it you add it to bread (or toast) and add any veggies (or fruit) that you want. It’s that simple.

Ingredients:

10 oz. feta cheese (plain, not flavored)

8 oz. cream cheese (soft, not the log kind)

Directions:

1. Dump the feta cheese and cream cheese into a food processor and blend until creamy. This will take, I don’t know maybe close to 10 minutes – you’ll want all of the lumps to be gone and the whipped feta to be absolutely creamy.

It’s up to you what to do with the whipped feta. I sliced some whole wheat bread, spread the whipped feta on top, placed some sliced tomatoes & bell peppers on top, put a fresh basil leaf on top and ground some fresh black pepper over the veggies. You could add some honey while blending the feta and cream cheese and use fruit instead of veggies – the options are endless!

I cannot believe how amazing this salad / toast was. In fact, I want one right now. I’m pretty much drooling. This recipe will be a go-to summer salad recipe. See, there are so many amazing ways to eat your veggies!